Love as absolute challenge – also for education

Abstract

The other (alter), through the lens of Levinas`s criticism of the same (neutrum), is always a unique other who stands up to any generalisation and homogenisation. According to a heteronomous schedule of ethics by E. Levinas, “face of the other”, presence of their personal Thou in the sphere of life of a moral subject, precedes own being of this subject by their calling for an answer. Uniqueness of interpersonal relationship and appeal of the exterior Thou challenges human to exclusivity and to infinite self-abandonment in favour of the other (challenges to love). This ethical horizon is not possible to be ever reached and closed, it is impossible in fact, too difficult to be accepted as a norm of everyday life, mainly life in a community, society, state. Presence of “the third” (the political) in the sphere of morality is posed as a theoretical problem: What kind of ethics should be designed in a society of many “others” where Thou is inevitably turned to He/ She, included in socio-political structures and relationships of justice? Is it possible to talk about some continuum between the relationship to the other and the relationship to a community? The final part of the paper seeks to answer these questions and pedagogical implications of demands of love in moral education are pointed out.